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Charl Schwartzel heading the leaderboard

Consistency as a recipe for success: two rounds of 66 and a total of ten under par have left the South African Charl Schwartzl at the top of the leaderboard at the Porsche European Open in Bad Griesbach. Ahead of the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday, he is sharing the lead with the two Englishmen Graeme Storm, who today shot a 67, and Ross Fisher, whose round of 65 was the day's best along with the South Korean Byeong Hun An.

The best German is Florian Fritsch (-7) followed by Maximilian Kieffer (-6) who, watched on by a 6,700 crowd, made the cut for the 22nd time in succession - currently the longest cut streak on the European Tour. Bernhard Langer (-5) will also be teeing off over the weekend in Bad Griesbach as will the Northern Irish Major winner Graeme McDowell (-4), the Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez (-6) and Welshman Jamie Donaldson (-7) who sealed the Ryder Cup win for the European team last year.

Charl Schwartzel is increasingly getting to grips with the par 71 Beckenbauer Golf Course. Last week's practice sessions on the greens are paying off. "The putting is getting better. My technique is still a little shaky but self-confidence is vital," said the South African who goes into the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday with high hopes. Another player looking forward to the weekend is Florian Fritsch. "I'm overjoyed.

Standing on the tee, the course doesn't really give me much confidence. But I'm intent on playing aggressively here and it's worked well now over the 36 holes," said the Munich-born player who, due to his fear of flying, is unable to play many of the important Tour events. Bernhard Langer played the course far better on day two than his playing partners. Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and the US pro Hunter Mahan were unable to match their performances on Thursday and surprisingly missed the cut. Langer went round in even par and was satisfied.

"Having played so well on Thursday, I'm still within striking distance of the leaders." And that in the mind of countryman Maximilian Kieffer is the most important thing. "At your home tournament, you want to be in action over the weekend," said the German. "I'm in a good position going into the last two rounds."

The standings after round 2:
T1 (-10): Ross Fisher (England), Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Graeme Storm (England); T4 (-9): Byeong Hun An (South Korea), Richard McEvoy (England); T6 (-8): Darren Fichardt (South Africa), Johan Edfors (Sweden).

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